I don't exactly see the wall of regulation. In France, as in Germany, you have to learn driving through an instructor, you can not do it in your parents car as it most likely lacks the necessary emergency controls for an actual licensed driver. Hence the cost, mostly paying for 20+ hrs of an instructors time.
There is only a limited amount of exam slots, and they are assigned based on previous pass rates, ensuring you don't waste it on unprepared students. That seems like a perfectly sane policy when there's only a low fixed amount of exam slots. In Germany, you pay a fee (to the government) for the exam, so its possible to add more tester.
There's definitely an in-between period where you want an instructor's car. In my case, Missouri, USA, I started with my father on our property, slow and maneuvering between trees (also teaching me how to use a manual transmission), then I did the usual, free (at least back in the late '70s), and not resource constrained driver's ed in high school, then I got a learner's permit and drove on the streets for some time with my father in the passenger side to get the level of experience we thought necessary (e.g. driving to high school each morning).
There is only a limited amount of exam slots, and they are assigned based on previous pass rates, ensuring you don't waste it on unprepared students. That seems like a perfectly sane policy when there's only a low fixed amount of exam slots. In Germany, you pay a fee (to the government) for the exam, so its possible to add more tester.